This page is designed to help inform Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering faculty, staff and students of the various ways to plan for and protect against data loss. Whether you have an existing office or lab system or you are configuring a new computer designated for a specific purpose, the MME IT staff can recommend an option based on intended use.
Please keep in mind that it is good practice to ensure your data is protected and stored in more than one location. As such, an ideal solution could require more than one of the options described below. Please contact the information technology team if you require further advice or would like assistance implementing a solution.
USB Flash Drives, External Solid State Drives (SSD) and External Hard Drives
USB drives are often used for the same purposes for which floppy disks or CDs were used, i.e., for storage, data back-up and transfer of computer files. They are physically smaller, faster and sometimes have more capacity. The cost of a USB device will depend on the type that fits your needs. They are best suited for backing up personal data files using copy and paste type commands or compliment a backup software program.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| easy to use | easy to lose |
| uses little power | vulnerable to drive failure |
| lightweight and portable | not suitable for data related to Policy 8 |
| compatible with most operating systems |
Network Storage ("N" Drive)
All Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering faculty, staff and students are provided with a network storage location ("N Drive"). The "N" drive is your primary default location to store your data files. The default size is 2 gigabytes. Limited size increase may be available subject to Engineering Computing's approval. Data cleanup will be required. Requests for an increase can be made via our department request ticketing system.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| can manually map "N" drive on standalone systems connected on the University network |
temporary outages due to storage hardware failure, network availability or server reboot |
| easily accessible via any computer on nexus using your nexus credentials | must use virtual private network (VPN) in order to access "N" drive from remote location |
| secure | cannot share files for collaboration with other users |
| size increases may be available | |
| easily accessible via any computer on nexus using your nexus credentials |
Cloud Storage
One Drive, Google Drive and Dropbox
One Drive, Google Drive and Dropbox are some of the "free" internet-based cloud storage system available. They allow users to copy/store files from their desktop or smart phone. Can be accessed anyplace at anytime. Files can be shared for collaboration by multiple users. The files can be synchronized between your desktop or smart phone to the cloud storage solution.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| initial set of space is free, can be increased at a cost | not suitable for data related to Policy 8 |
| automatic synchronization of files via desktop or smart phone application | cannot change the folder location of files to be synchronized without reconfiguring the application software |
| accessible via desktop, smart phone or web browser | does not restore files if deleted |
| users controls permissions to files | subject to each Government's request for Information Policy |
| secure | if using smart phone, data charges can be incurred |
Engineering Research Storage
Engineering Research storage is a "free" local storage server with cloud based options for Engineering faculty members, for storage of research data. Its use should be considered a secondary backup location to compliment to your primary storage system.
Engineering Computing Research (ecresearch.uwaterloo.ca) can be accessed a number of different ways, all requiring Nexus credentials for authentication.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| first terabyte is free, can be increased upon request at a cost | could become inaccessible for short periods of time due to storage hardware failure or network availability |
| if using cloud option, accessible via desktop, smart phone or web browser | if using cloud option, cannot change the folder location of files to be synchronized without reconfiguring the application software |
| if using cloud option, automatic synchronization of files via desktop or smart phone application | if using cloud option with your smart phone, data charges are incurred |
| secure | |
| backed up nightly |
Backup Software
There are many software solutions available to backup data. Each solution carries a variety of features, functionality and potential costs. The solution that applies will be determined by your requirements. MAC users have Time Machine. Windows 7 users have Backup and Restore and Windows 8.1 users have File History. These are good options to implement for office, lab and personal computers.
MAC Time Machine
Time Machine is the built-in backup feature of OS X. It keeps a copy of all your files, and remembers how your system looked on any given day so you can revisit your Mac as it appeared in the past.Time Machine saves hourly backups for the past 24 hours, daily backups for the past month, and weekly backups for everything older than a month until the volume runs out of space. At that point, Time Machine deletes the oldest weekly backup.
Windows 7 Backup and Restore
Windows 7 backup and restore is the built-in backup feature of Microsoft that creates copies of your important files located in individual folders, , and drives and can schedule the time frame to run.You can back up to another drive, DVD, USB drive or any remote network location.
How to setup Windows 7 backup and restore
Windows 8.1 File History
Windows 8.1 file history is the built-in backup feature of Microsoft that can continuously protect your personal files stored in libraries, desktop, favourites and contacts folders. When enabled can periodically scan the file system for changes and copies changed files to another drive or remote location. Over time, file history builds a complete history of the changes made to any personal file.
How to setup Windows 8.1 file history
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| included with the operating systems | cannot change the folder location of files to be backed up without reconfiguring the software |
| easy to setup | requires external device to be available when the first configured and when the backup is running |
| automatic scheduling | does not inform user if backup failed |
| flexible data retention | |
| easy to restore | |
| can be used with an external device, remote location or other disk |
Disk Imaging or Cloning
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| software is inexpensive | requires a new image if changes are made |
| reduced downtime rather than rebuild from scratch | large storage is needed if image is big or multiple images are being stored |
| same or like hardware is required for restore |
Deep Freeze
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
|
can ‘freeze’ some parts of the disk/partition while not others
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cost associated with licenses
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protects system in real-time with no real downtime
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in order to change expected state you must remember to ‘unfreeze’, restart, make changes and then ‘freeze’ system again
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simple restart to restore expected state if system is compromised
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cannot make changes if password cannot be remembered |
|
password protected
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allows temporary changes to be made while preserving the expected state
|
Raid - Mirroring
Raid is a data storage technology that combines multiple disk drives into a logical unit mainly for the purposes of disk redundancy. There are various ways to setup a raid configuration. The cost of raid is dependent on the number of disks, the size of the disks or additional hardware requirements. A RAID system is not a backup. It provides for reduced downtime in the event of a hard disk failure. Data stored on a RAID system should always be backed up to another device! This is a good option for office and department lab computers.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
|
after initial setup, no user intervention required
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provides a real time exact copy so any accidental or malicious changes, deletions or corruptions are duplicated
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protects against physical drive failure by rolling over to the duplicate if one drive fails
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requires users to be aware of a single drive failure and have it replaced before another failure occurs
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little downtime. If one drive fails the other drive is in use in real-time until the failed drive is replaced and the data is again duplicated
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